Hi everyone,
I'm now working on changing the rear stub axle universal joints ( they would not take grease, have good zerks ) while I have the IRS all apart.
After an all day battle using a "rented" puller I finally removed the first stub axle from it's hub. Used all the American, British, and Aussie swear words I know in the process and even made up a few new ones !
Why does the manual call for using loctite on the splines when it's already a snug fit and has the huge castle nut torqued to 100-120 ft/lbs with a cotter pin holding it ?
If it was a just a small nut, no splines, no locking nut etc I could understand but it seems to me kinda like the ROM calling for Stop Leak every time the coolant is changed. Maybe the engineer in charge was actually working for BMW etc !

Cheers,
Brian

 

From what I've heard it was to prevent any movement at all between the splines on the hub and stub axle. I literally split the end of one stub axle attempting to disassemble my E-type's IRS using the "proper" tool and ended up using a twenty-ton press with mandrels I made from scrap steel and a beaten up spin-off nut. I didn't put loctite back on the splines when I reassembled it and have gone seven years without issue.

I have wondered many times if the Jaguar engineers had some vendetta against the mechanics - maybe a mechanic was getting frisky with an engineer's wife and so it was decided to punish all mechanics in retaliation...

 

Never understood that at all.

My MK X and "Real" S Type had no Loctite, probably not invented back then, and simply slid apart.

All the S2 cars, same, except one, and that was rust.

I have never reapplied Loctite to those splines, not even ONE drop, and no issues yet.Anti-Seize, hell yes.

 

I believe the Loctite was to stop a clicking noise heard at low speed which was the very small movement of subaxle against hub. I had read about this when I had a Series 3 XJ. Eventually I had to dismantle the hub assembly to fit new bearings, and, like almost everybody else, the hub just pulled off without effort. Later on, when going along a very bumpy track on Helsby Hill sometime in the 90s, I heard this clicking noise. I had a couple of windows open at the time due to the heat of summer. That was the only time I did hear it ! When I reassembled the hubs, I remember greasing the splines; no Loctite !

 

Thanks everyone,
further googleing revealed the possible click issue but in my option if the parts are designed / made correctly to start with they should not have any play. The second one came apart with just reasonable force on the puller ( no BFH, cussing etc ) so maybe the overnight soak with PB Blaster did the trick. There might be some rust on the splines that caused the issue instead of the loctite, I'll know once I clean the grease / gunk off ( the car was parked for 20 years with steel rims / hubcaps which might have let more moisture into the area ? ). As long as there is no slop after cleaning, I plan on just using anti-seize when I put it all back together.

The bearings, races, seal tracks all look good, so I have only new nitrile oil seals ordered. I saw a post somewhere about using Lucas hub oil in the carrier instead of "hoping" grease put in it gets to the bearings. What are everyone's thoughts on this ? I had already bought some I planned to add to the old gummy grease in the hubs before the "simple" rear brake job turned into a total IRS restore ! If it will work on a high mileage heavy road truck trailer, seems it should be good enough for a car. The only problem I see is leaks / seepage between the oil seal tracks and the axle / hub shafts, I might use a dab of RTV etc to seal during reassembly.

Will post pictures later, have to go clean grease gobs !

Cheers,
Brian

 

Don't forget this car is a Jaguar built in the 80s ! I suspect it was found that there was slight play and it was just easier to put a drop of Loctite on to cure the problem.